Good morning. This is Megan Graham filling in for Nat Ives. Today, Oatly switches up its marketing; Justice Department leadership closed an investigation of Paramount's bid for WBD to the surprise of some staffers; and hotel owners want more from Marriott's loyalty program. 

When oat milk was still largely a curiosity, Oatly made a name for itself with verbose, self-aware billboards. A bus-stop ad reading “We made this specifically for vegans and non-vegans and for normally-not-vegan-but-sometimes-flexi-veggie-person-tarians” helped consumers understand what the product was and who should buy it.

Now that oat milk is a staple for many consumers, the Swedish company has shifted its focus to trying to inform beverage culture and trends through events and other efforts. With beverage culture totally popping off right now, as the kids say, Oatly is trying to show where the trends are going, whether it's a fig leaf matcha or the tortilla and agave lattes served at one recent event.

“We have migrated from analog-heavy individual advertising to a more relevant, integrated and digital-first approach, always blended with iconic culture-making life events,” Oatly’s Global President and Chief Operating Officer Daniel Ordonez said in an investor call in April. Oatly still runs out-of-home advertising.

I chatted with Michael Lee, executive vice president and one of four executive creative directors who lead Oatly's marketing for different regions, to learn more about why Oatly switched up the strategy and the unique way the company's creative team is structured. Just a few of the tidbits I found interesting: 

• Oatly's executive creative directors are involved in all aspects of its business and it doesn't have marketing directors or a CMO.
• Oatly hired a slew of ex-baristas to ingratiate themselves with coffee shops. Those staffers help compile lookbooks for upcoming beverage trends.
• The company is also moving from oat milk supplier to a strategic partner with restaurant chains. It's helping those chains understand where drinks are headed. 

The Justice Department’s senior leadership closed an investigation of Paramount’s bid for Warner Bros. Discovery before career staffers who were concerned about the acquisition had an opportunity to object, our colleagues at the Journal report, citing people familiar with the matter.

A team of career lawyers who had spent months scrutinizing the deal were leaning toward recommending a lawsuit challenging it on the grounds that the combination of the two movie studios would be anticompetitive and violate antitrust law, the people said.

The staff investigators hadn’t yet made a final recommendation—a typical step in the deal-review process—and were told Friday that the department would close the investigation, effectively clearing the deal at the federal level, some of the people said.

Among staffers’ questions was how the combined company could meet its commitment to make 30 theatrical releases a year, given its increased debt load. The senior leaders allowed the inquiries but believed Paramount’s debt wasn’t a reason to challenge the merger, the people familiar with their thinking said. No one on the investigative team spoke up to leadership voicing support for filing a lawsuit, they said.

Dozens of America’s biggest hotel owners are pressuring Marriott International to share more of the wealth from its lucrative partnerships tied to the Marriott Bonvoy loyalty program, Kate King reports. 

Marriott has said that fee revenue from its co-branded credit cards is expected to jump 35% this year to nearly $1 billion. Owners say that they previously believed the program was only breaking even and that the hotel giant is ripping them off.

Most Marriott hotels are owned by franchisees, who say they are the ones bearing the expense of providing rooms when customers cash in their credit-card points. These owners say they should get a bigger slice of the revenue Marriott makes from credit-card agreements, according to a March letter signed by 51 owners representing nearly 1,000 Marriott-branded hotels and sent to Marriott.

Hotel owners say they want more financial information and reforms to the program’s reimbursement structure. Marriott, the world’s largest hotel chain by number of rooms with more than 1.7 million globally, says it takes owners’ concerns seriously and recently increased owners’ compensation for loyalty stays on high-demand nights.

Some customers say loyalty programs are providing fewer perks than in the past. Larry Pearlman, a Marriott rewards member since 1989, has secured lifetime platinum loyalty status with the chain after decades of traveling for work but says he is getting fewer benefits than 10 years ago.

Loyalty members now get breakfast vouchers that don’t cover the cost of breakfast and are charged for parking even at rural locations. Pearlman says he tried to contact Marriott to complain but didn’t get through to anyone until a LinkedIn post he wrote detailing his grievances went viral.

Marriott boosted his points as a thank you for his feedback. Pearlman says he still feels less loyal overall to the brand.

“Now it’s like, if Holiday Inn is cheaper, I’ll stay there,” he says.

The U.K. said Monday it will force leading social-media companies to restrict access to their sites for teens under 16 years old. [WSJ] 

Amazon sellers are feeling better about Prime Day, but they’re still watching margins. [Modern Retail]

KFC is set to overhaul its menu, restaurant design and branding as it faces fierce competition from rivals in the fried-chicken space. [Ad Age] 

As AI reshapes search, TikTok turns discovery into a performance pitch. [Digiday]

J.Crew CMO Julia Collier on marketing Americana in modern times. [Vogue]